Contact Conference
Encyclopedia
Contact is an annual interdisciplinary conference that brings together renowned social and space scientists, science fiction writers and artists to exchange ideas, stimulate new perspectives and encourage serious, creative speculation about humanity's future. The intent of Contact is to promote the integration of human factors into space research and policy, to explore the intersection of science and art, and to develop ethical approaches to cross-cultural contact. Since its beginnings, the Contact conference has fostered interdisciplinary inquiries into art, literature, exploration and scientific investigation.
Contact was conceived by anthropologist Jim Funaro in 1979, and the first formal conference was held in 1983 in Santa Cruz, California
. Twenty-five annual events have followed, several held at NASA Ames Research Center
. In recent years, the COTI HI project has involved teams of High School students in the creation of scientifically accurate extraterrestrial beings, and in simulated encounters between two such races.
Many spinoff organizations have formed, on line, and as far away as Japan. One such organization is the Contact consortium
which is focused on the medium of contact in multi-user virtual world
s on
the Internet
.
Contact has been closely allied with the SETI Institute
, and its early participants created the hypothetical planet Epona.
The 26th Contact conference was held on March 26 - 28, 2010 at NASA Ames in Mountain View, California
.
Contact was conceived by anthropologist Jim Funaro in 1979, and the first formal conference was held in 1983 in Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
. Twenty-five annual events have followed, several held at NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center , is one of the United States of America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration 10 major field centers.The centre is located in Moffett Field in California's Silicon Valley, near the high-tech companies, entrepreneurial ventures, universities, and other...
. In recent years, the COTI HI project has involved teams of High School students in the creation of scientifically accurate extraterrestrial beings, and in simulated encounters between two such races.
Many spinoff organizations have formed, on line, and as far away as Japan. One such organization is the Contact consortium
Contact consortium
The Contact Consortium is a California 501c non-profit corporation founded in 1995 by software architect Bruce Damer, anthropologist Jim Funaro, and science fiction writer Keith Ferrel to serve as a catalyst and forum for the emerging medium of multi-user virtual worlds and virtual communities in...
which is focused on the medium of contact in multi-user virtual world
Virtual world
A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...
s on
the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Contact has been closely allied with the SETI Institute
SETI Institute
The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe”. SETI stands for the "search for extraterrestrial intelligence". One program is the use of both radio and optical telescopes to search...
, and its early participants created the hypothetical planet Epona.
The 26th Contact conference was held on March 26 - 28, 2010 at NASA Ames in Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
.